New Dimensions and Measurements of Development

There are stray references to the discipline of Economics (or what would now be known as Economics) in ancient texts in India and China, but these are mostly about ways to impose taxes and the public duty of kings, etc. These are mostly in the way of suggestions and guidelines without logical exactness. By all accounts, modern Economics begins with the publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (The Wealth of Nations, for short) by Adam Smith in 1776. This book does not attempt to engage in any rigorous modelling, nor create a logical structure of causes and effects, but is rather in the nature of philosophical musings about the economic behaviour of man and society and is supported by a volume of examples.